PROGRAMMING OLYMPIAD
Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee is a group of ex-Olympiad winners and other enthusiasts. They help the Olympiad in many ways – including:
For 2013 the Scientific Committee consists of:
James Gain Associate Professor: Computer Science, UCT
Graham Manuell BSc student, UCT
Gwylim Ashley BSc student, UCT
Kieren Davies BSc student, UCT
Kosie van der Merwe Honours student, UCT
Mark Danoher MSc student, UCT
Trustees
The Computer Olympiad is a project of Computer Society South Africa. Its aim is to identify, encourage, and reward programming aptitude. To this end a trust, the South African Computer Olympiad Trust has been established. Trustees are appointed by Computer Society South Africa and the University of Cape Town. Five members make up the Management Committee.
Berto de Freitas is Business Manager, Risk IT at Standard Bank CIB, and is focused on Talent Management and Leadership Development. Standard Bank is the main sponsor of the Computer Olympiad.
Donald Cook is a former lecturer in the Computer Science Department at the University of Cape Town. He has also been involved in the Computer Olympiad since the beginning and managed the Scientific Committee from 1995 to 2007.
James Gain is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Cape Town. He currently manages the Scientific Committee which sets the questions and tests the solutions. This committee is mainly made up of past Olympiad participants.
Moira de Roche is Vice President of the Computer Society of South Africa. Moira is a past president of the CSSA, who made education a priority during her presidency.
Peter Waker is a Director of the Computer Society of South Africa, and manager of the Computer Olympiad. He has spent all his adult life in education – the last 33 years in IT and education. He is a founding member of the Computer Olympiad and manages the promotion and administration of the Olympiad.
Special Advisors
Fiona Wallace is a Director of UniForum SA, and also coordinates the Co.Za Cares project, an innovative, social investment programme whose main focus is the provision of computer laboratories, IT and leadership training for teachers and interactive learning materials for under-resourced South African schools.
Mike Chiles has been involved with ICT in Education for most of his adult life. Until his recent retirement, he was Director: e-Learning and Library Services for the Western Cape Education Department.
Management Team
Manager: Peter Waker has been involved with the Computer Olympiad since its inception in 1982. He retired as Head of the Centre for Education Technology and is now a fulltime ICT in Education consultant.
INTERWARE, Peter Waker’s management company, among other projects, also manages the Computer Olympiad. Two staff members on the administrative team are:
Administrator: Sharleen van Zweel is occupied with the day-to-day operation of the Computer Olympiad.
Finance: Lilian Bligh who is responsible for maintaining the Computer Olympiad’s financials.